Automatically identifying risk in contract negotiations using graphical time curves of contract history and divergence

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method includes using a first computing device to access digital data representing a contract set of contract documents and digital contract metadata, weight differences between data field values, use the weighted differences to calculate distance scores, use the distance scores and a temporal ordering of the contract documents to generate and cause displaying a time curve graph comprising a geometric shape that comprises time curves and a spatial proximity at a second computing device, a measure of each time curve calculated to indicate an amount of time between a creation of two contract documents, the spatial proximity calculated to indicate a metric of similarity between the contract documents, in response to determining that the geometric shape indicates a lack of convergence over a threshold amount of time, generate and cause displaying a notification indicating that the contract set is at risk at the second computing device.

BENEFIT CLAIM

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 as acontinuation of application Ser. No. 15/807436, filed 8 Nov. 2017, theentire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field ofstatistical analysis of data using digital computers. The disclosurerelates more specifically to the technical field of efficient algorithmsfor computer systems that are programmed to automatically generate arisk analysis of a set of contract documents based on identifyingpatterns of geometric shapes in a time curve graph of contract historyand divergence.

BACKGROUND

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could bepursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previouslyconceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it shouldnot be assumed that any of the approaches described in this sectionqualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in thissection.

Business enterprises enter contractual agreements in all stages ofbusiness. Contractual agreements can provide individuals and businesseswith a legal document stating the expectations of both parties and hownegative situations will be resolved and may exist between differentbusiness enterprises or may exist internally within a businessorganization.

The formation of a contractual agreement typically involves anegotiation process between the parties involved in forming theagreement. In doing so, business enterprises will begin contractnegotiations with a contract template that includes basic contractualclauses and provisions that provide a starting point for negotiations tobegin.

As the contract negotiation process progresses, each party of thenegotiation may provide edits to the contract documents that result indifferent versions of the original contract template. For example, oneparty may delete an entire contractual clause, where another party maychange a price amount specified in the contractual agreement. The backand forth negotiation sequence between contractual parties normallycontinues until an agreement is reached between all parties involved orno agreement can be reached.

At any point during the negotiation process, a business enterprise mayhave hundreds of pending contracts to monitor and manage. Keeping trackof differences between contract versions is typically a manual processwhere an employee or third party will go through each contract versionand document the modifications made to each version so that the contractmanager is able to understand the current state of the contract. Thismanual process results in exorbitant amounts of time and computingresources that are devoted to helping an employee manually accomplishthis feat.

Based on the foregoing, there is a need to understand the state of manycontracts in a small amount of time.

SUMMARY OF PARTICULAR EMBODIMENTS

The appended claims may serve as a summary of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computer system with which embodiments maybe implemented.

FIG. 2 illustrates a contract document with associated digital contractmetadata.

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B illustrate the generation of a time curve.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example time curve graph.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example algorithm or method of automaticallyidentifying risk in contract negotiations using a time curve graph.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example algorithm or method of generating a timecurve graph for a contract set.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example computer system with which embodiments maybe implemented.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however,that the present invention may be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presentinvention.

Embodiments are described in sections according to the followingoutline:

1.0 GENERAL OVERVIEW

2.0 EXAMPLE NETWORKED COMPUTER SYSTEM

3.0 EXAMPLE ALGORITHMS AND METHODS

4.0 HARDWARE OVERVIEW

5.0 OTHER ASPECTS OF DISCLOSURE

1.0 General Overview

In various embodiments, methods and computer systems are provided thatare programmed or configured to automatically identify risk in contractnegotiations using time curves of contract history and convergence.

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises storing, inone or more data repositories, digital data representing a contract setof two or more contract documents comprising a template document and oneor more contract document versions based on the template document;storing, in one or more data repositories, digital contract metadata,the digital contract metadata including data identifying one or moredata fields in each contract document of the contract set, dataspecifying the data type of the one or more data fields in each contractdocument of the contract set, and weights assigned to each data type;generating and causing displaying, at a computer associated with acontract administrator, a time curve graph based on the contract set andcontract metadata, the time curve graph graphically indicatingsimilarities between contract documents in the contract set and atemporal ordering of contract documents in the contract set; determiningwhether the contract set is at risk by performing a digital geometricanalysis of the time curve graph to identify one or more geometricshapes that indicate that the contract set is at risk; in response todetermining that the contract set is at risk, generating and causingdisplaying, at a computer associated with the contract administrator, anotification indicating that the contract set is at risk.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises storing,in one or more data repositories, a first contract set, the firstcontract set comprising two or more contract documents, the two or morecontract documents comprising a template document and one or morecontract document versions based on the template document; storing, inone or more data repositories, a second contract set, the secondcontract set comprising two or more contract documents, the two or morecontract documents comprising the template document and one or morecontract document versions based on the template document; storing, inone or more data repositories, contract metadata, the contract metadataincluding data regarding one or more data fields in each contractdocument of the first and second contract sets, data specifying the datatype of the one or more data fields in each contract document of thefirst and second contract sets, and weights assigned to each data type;generating and causing displaying, at a computer associated with acontract administrator, a time curve graph based on the first contractset, the second contract set, and the contract metadata, the time curvegraph graphically indicating similarities between contract documents inthe first contract set, similarities between contract documents in thesecond contract set, and a temporal ordering of contract documents ineach contract set of the first and second contract sets; determiningwhether the template document of the contract set needs to be modifiedby performing a geometric analysis of the time curve graph to identify ageometric trend between the first and second contract sets that indicatethat the template document should be modified; in response toidentifying a directional trend between the first and second contractsets that indicate that the template document should be modified,generating and causing displaying, at a computer associated with thecontract administrator, a notification indicating that the templatedocument should be modified.

2.0 Example Networked Computer System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computer system that may be used toimplement an embodiment.

In an embodiment, a computer system 100 comprises a server computer(“server” for short) 102, administrator device 120, and a naturallanguage processor 102A, which are communicatively coupled directly orindirectly via network 116. Network 116 comprises one or more datanetworks including any of local area networks, wide area networks,internetworks or internets.

In one embodiment, a server 102 comprises a processor 102A, electronicnotification generating instructions 110, geometric analysis generatinginstructions 112, time curve generating instructions 114, and databaseinterface 104. Processor 102A broadly represents one or more hardwareprocessors such as central processing units, processor cores, orprocessor modules, with associated support circuitry such as memorymanagement circuits, I/O circuits, display drivers, and the like. Eachof the electronic notification generating instructions 110, geometricanalysis generating instructions 112, and time curve generatinginstructions 114 represent regions in main memory, such as RAM, coupledto and accessible by the processor 102A, and programmed with machineexecutable instructions that are configured to perform the functionsdescribed herein when executed using the processor 102A.

Although the electronic notification generating instructions 110,geometric analysis generating instructions 112, and time curvegenerating instructions 114 are shown in FIG. 1 as executing on theserver 102, the electronic notification generating instructions 110,geometric analysis generating instructions 112, and time curvegenerating instructions 114 may be a part of computer instructionsinstalled as part of a separate system, as a module or a plug-in tosupplement features of the server 102, as a separate instance ofexecuting code on the server 102, or any other arrangement depending onthe needs of an administrator device 120.

The server 102 may generate and transmit alerts, messages,notifications, and other information generated by the electronicnotification generating instructions 110 to the administrator device 120over the network 116.

The database interface 104 is coupled to a contract metadata repository106 and a contract repository 108. In this context, “database” may referto a relational database, flat file, table, spreadsheet, or any otherform of collective data storage that is capable of programmaticinterrogation, such as using a query or API call, to obtain a result setof one or more records or datasets.

In an embodiment, contract repository 108 stores digital datarepresenting contract documents. A contract document is an electronicdocument that specifies terms of a contractual agreement. A contractdocument may exist within a contract set, which may include one or morecontract documents. A contract set may include a template document,which may be the first version of a series of contract documentversions. A contract document version may be a revised document versionof a template document.

In one embodiment, contract metadata repository 106 stores digitalmetadata associated with contract documents. Digital contract metadatamay associate selections of text in a contract document with data fieldsand data field values. As shown in FIG. 2, contract metadata mayidentify a date field from a contract document as the textual selection“Date: 10/18/18”, or a monetary value field from the contract document,such as the text selection “$1,000,000”. Digital contract metadatastored in the contract metadata repository 106 may be used forimplementing aspects of the flow diagrams that are further describedherein.

The digital metadata associated with contract documents stored in thecontract metadata repository may store data that provides informationregarding one or more data fields in one or more contract documents,data specifying the data type of the one or more data fields in one ormore contract documents, weights assigned to each data type of acontract document, temporal data indicating the temporal ordering ofcontract documents in a contract set, and a contract clause library.

Although the contract metadata repository 106 and contract repository108 are shown in FIG. 1 as encompassed by the server 102, the contractmetadata repository 106 and contract repository 108 may exist separatelyfrom the server 102, and accordingly accessed via network 116.

The natural language processor 118 may be accessed via network 116 bythe server 102. The natural language processor 118 may process contractssets to calculate metrics indicating how different two contract versionsare from each other. The contract server may retrieve data from thecontract repository 108 and the contract metadata repository 106 andsend the data via network 116 to the natural language processor 118.Data from the natural language processor 118 may be used as input to anyof the electronic notification generating instructions 110, geometricanalysis generating instructions 112, and time curve generatinginstructions 114. Although there is one natural language processor 118shown in FIG. 1, any other number of natural language processors may beaccessed by the server at any given time.

Although the natural language processor 118 is shown in FIG. 1 asexisting separately from the server, the natural language processor 118may exist natively on the server 102, and accordingly accessed viaprocessor 102A.

Administrator device 120 broadly represents any computing device that isseparate from the server 102, such as a laptop computer, desktopcomputer, tablet computer, smartphone, workstation, or other computer,and that is associated with a server administrator who may specifyparameters or preset values for any of the programmable instructions112, 114, 116, 118, 120.

The electronic notification generating instructions 110 may beprogrammed or configured to generate alerts, notifications, messages,and other information. For example, the electronic notificationgenerating instructions 110 may include features to communicate with thetime curve generating instructions 114, geometric analysis generatinginstructions 112, the server 102, administrator device 120, anythird-party API via the network 116, and database interface 104. Theelectronic notification generating instructions 110 may also be used forimplementing aspects of the flow diagrams that are further describedherein.

The geometric analysis generating instructions 112 may be programmed orconfigured to analyze time curve graphs to identify different shapesthat exist within the time curve graphs and associate identified shapeswith contract set risk values. Additionally, the geometric analysisgenerating instructions 112 may include features to communicate with theelectronic notification generating instructions 110, time curvegenerating instructions 114, the server 102, administrator device 120,and any third-party API via the network 116, and database interface 104.The geometric analysis generating instructions 112 may also be used forimplementing aspects of the flow diagrams that are further describedherein.

The time curve generating instructions 114 may be programmed orconfigured to generate a time curve graph such as shown in FIG. 3. Atime curve graph is a graphical representation of one or more timecurves, as described herein. For example, the time curve generatinginstructions 114 may include features to communicate with the geometricanalysis generating instructions 112, electronic notification generatinginstructions 110, the server 102, administrator device 120 via thenetwork 116, and database interface 104. The time curve generatinginstructions 114 may also be used for implementing aspects of the flowdiagrams that are further described herein.

Network 116 may be implemented by any medium or mechanism that providesfor the exchange of data between the various elements of FIG. 1.Examples of network 116 include, without limitation, a cellular network,communicatively coupled with a data connection to the computing devicesover a cellular antenna, one or more Local Area Networks (LANs), one ormore Wide Area Networks (WANs), one or more Ethernets or the Internet,or one or more terrestrial, satellite or wireless links, or acombination thereof. For purposes of illustrating a clear example,network 116 is shown as a single element but in practice, network 11 maycomprise one or more local area networks, wide area networks, and/orinternetworks. The various elements of FIG. 1 may also have direct(wired or wireless) communications links, depending upon a particularimplementation.

For purposes of illustrating a clear example, FIG. 1 illustrates asingle client device 124, a single processor 102A, and single instancesof certain other elements. Other embodiments may implement any number ofsuch elements. For example, the server 102 may be deployed as two ormore computers, clusters, containers, and/or virtual machine instancesin one or more physical or virtual machines that are co-located,separate, and/or located in shared computing facilities such as cloudcomputing datacenters.

3.0 Example Algorithms and Methods

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an example method of providing offers based onpredictive shopping patterns, according to various embodiments.

For purposes of illustrating a clear example, FIG. 5 is described hereinin the context of FIG. 1, but the broad principles of FIG. 5 can beapplied to other systems having configurations other than as shown inFIG. 1. Further, FIG. 5 and each other flow diagram herein illustratesan algorithm or method that may be used as a basis for programming oneor more of the functional modules of FIG. 1 that relate to the functionsthat are illustrated in the diagram, using a programming developmentenvironment or programming language that is deemed suitable for thetask. Thus, FIG. 5 and each other flow diagram herein are intended as anillustration at the functional level at which skilled persons, in theart to which this disclosure pertains, communicate with one another todescribe and implement algorithms using programming. The flow diagramsare not intended to illustrate every instruction, method object or substep that would be needed to program every aspect of a working program,but are provided at the high, functional level of illustration that isnormally used at the high level of skill in this art to communicate thebasis of developing working programs.

In step 502, digital data is stored representing a contract set of twoor more contract documents. The two or more contract documents maycomprise a template document and one or more contract document versionsbased on the template document. For example, the digital datarepresenting contract documents may be stored in the contract repository108 by the server 102. The server 102 may receive digital contract datafrom any external source via the network 116 and store the digital datain the contract repository 108. Digital contract data may also begenerated internally by the server 102 and stored, by the server 102, inthe contract repository 108.

In step 504, digital contract metadata is stored, the contract metadataincluding data identifying one or more data fields in each contractdocument of the contract set, data specifying the data type of the oneor more data fields in each contract document of the contract set, andweights assigned to each data type. For example, digital contractmetadata may be stored in the contract metadata repository 106 by theserver 102. The server 102 may receive digital contract metadata fromany external source via network 116 and store the digital contractmetadata in the contract metadata repository 106. Contract metadata mayalso be generated internally by the server 102 and stored, by the server102, in the contract metadata repository 106.

For example, FIG. 2 shows a contract document with associated digitalcontract metadata. The digital contract metadata from contract metadatarepository 106 associates selections of text from the contract documentwith data fields and data field values. For example, the digitalcontract metadata associates the selection of text: “Date: Oct. 18,2018” from the contract document as a ‘Date’ datatype having a value of‘Oct. 18, 2018’. The digital contract metadata associates the selectionof text: “$1,000,000” from the contract document as a ‘Monetary Value’datatype having a value of ‘1,000,000. The digital contract metadataassociates the selection of text: “30 days” from the contract documentas a ‘Time Value’ datatype having a value of ‘30.

In an embodiment, contract metadata may include a contract clauselibrary and data identifying the frequency of occurrence of each datatype in each contract document of the contract set. A contract clauselibrary may identify a selection of text from a contract document as acontract clause. The digital contract metadata may include a contractclause as a datatype. A contract clause may be defined as a generic‘Contract Clause’ datatype, or each contract clause may be specified asa unique data type. For example, a ‘Sale of Goods’ contract clause, suchas the contract clause shown in FIG. 2 may be defined by the contractmetadata as a ‘Contract Clause’ datatype, or a ‘Sale of Goods ContractClause’ datatype. A contract clause library may include weights assignedto each contract clause type that is included in the contract clauselibrary.

In an embodiment, the digital contract metadata includes temporal dataindicating a temporal ordering of the contract documents in the contractset. For example, temporal data may include timestamp values associatedwith each contract document of a contract set that indicates a date wheneach contract document was last modified.

In step 506, a time curve graph is generated and displayed based on thecontract set and contract metadata, the time curve graph graphicallyindicating similarities between contract documents in the contract setand a temporal ordering of contract documents in the contract set. Forexample, the time curve generating instructions 114 may retrieve thedigital contract metadata from the contract metadata repository 106 viathe database interface 104 and a set of contract documents from thecontract repository 106 via the database interface 104 and generate atime curve graph based on the digital contract metadata and set ofcontract documents.

In general, time curve graphs are used for visualizing patterns ofevolution in temporal data. The time curve technique is a genericapproach for visualizing temporal data based on self-similarity. Thetime curve graph assumes that the underlying information artefact, suchas contract document versions in a contract set, can be broken down intodiscrete time points, and that the similarity between any two timepoints can be quantified through a meaningful metric.

For example, FIG. 3A shows a timeline of different document versions ofa contract set over time. Document ‘1’ denotes the first documentversion on the timeline while document ‘6’ denotes the last documentversion on the timeline. Although the timeline provides usefulinformation regarding the temporal ordering of contract documentversions, such as the time difference between contract versions 302, thetimeline provides no indication of how similar any two documents may bewith respect to each other. For example, document ‘6’ may be nearlyidentical to document ‘1’ after revisions 2-6, but the timeline providesno indication of this similarity.

The timeline can be folded to generate a time curve that graphicallyindicates how similar two contract documents are to each other. FIG. 3Bshows a folded timeline, referred to as a time curve, that provides avisual indication of how similar two contract documents are to oneanother 306 while also providing an indication of temporal ordering ofthe contract documents.

For example, the measure of each curve between contract versionsprovides a metric of time difference 304, such as the amount of timebetween the creation of two contract document versions. The spatialproximity between contract document versions provides a metric ofsimilarly 306, such as how similar two contract versions are to eachother.

An example of generating a time curve by the time curve graph generatinginstructions is illustrated in detail by flow 600 of FIG. 6.

Referring now to FIG. 6, in step 602, differences between the data fieldvalues of two contract documents of the contract set are identified. Forexample, the time curve graph generating instructions may identify thata data field specified by the digital contract metadata has a differentvalue in two contract document versions of the contract set. Eachcontract document version of a contract set may have different valuesassigned to the same field. For example, from FIG. 2, the specific datafield with the ‘Monetary Value’ datatype may exist in every contractdocument version of a contract set, but the value of the specific datafield may change between different contract document versions. Forexample, in a first contract document of a contract set, the data fieldvalue may be ‘1,000,000’, as shown in FIG. 2. In a second contractdocument of a contract set, the data field value may be ‘1,000’.Differences between the data field values of different contractdocuments in a contract set may be identified for every possiblecombination of two different contract document versions of the contractset.

In step 604, the identified differences are weighted according to theweights assigned to each data type of the one or more data fields ineach contract document of the contract set. For example, the time curvegraph generating instructions may weight the identified differencesbased on the weights associated with the respective data field type fromthe digital contract metadata. For example, from FIG. 2, the data fieldwith the ‘Monetary Value’ datatype may be associated with a weight of10. The data field with the ‘Date’ datatype may be associated with aweight of 2.

In general, higher weights are associated with data types or data fieldsthat have a higher degree of impact on the contract document. Forexample, an identified difference between a first contract document witha ‘Monetary Value’ data type and corresponding data field value of‘1,000,000’ and a second contract document with the same ‘MonetaryValue’ data type and different corresponding data field value of‘100,000’ are weighted much higher than a difference between a ‘Date’data type with corresponding data field value because a change in thedata field value for a ‘Monetary Value’ data type has a more significantimpact on the state of the contract set than a ‘Date’ data type.

In step 606, one or more distance scores are calculated based on theweighted differences between each data type of the one or more datafields in each contract document of the contract set. For example, thetime curve graph generating instructions may calculate one or moredistance score metrics based on the weighted differences between thecontract documents.

In an embodiment, a distance score comprises a metric that quantifieshow similar two contract documents are to each other.

In an embodiment, a calculating a distance score includes identifyingdifferences between two contract documents of a contract set usingnatural language processing.

In step 608, a time curve graph is generated based on the one or moredistance scores and a temporal ordering of the contract documents in thecontract set. For example, the time curve graph generating instructionsmay generate a time curve graph based on the calculated one or moredistance scores and a temporal ordering of the contract documents in thecontract set. FIG. 4 shows a time curve graph where each of the threedifferent contract sets represent a different time curve.

In an embodiment, a time curve graph comprises a three-dimensionalgraph, a two-dimensional graph, a one-dimensional graph, or azero-dimensional graph. A zero-dimensional graph may comprise metricsthat indicate the convergence of one or more contract sets.

Referring now to FIG. 5, in step 508, it is determined whether thecontract set is at risk by performing a geometric analysis of the timecurve graph to identify geometric shapes that indicate that the contractset is at risk. For example, the geometric analysis generatinginstructions 112 may perform a geometric analysis of the time curvegraph that is received as input from the time curve graph generatinginstructions and determine whether the time curves of the time curvegraph identify as certain geometric shapes.

Each time curve may be identified as a geometric shape. Geometriccharacteristics of a time curve can convey information regarding theprogress of the contract set. For example, a straight or smooth curvemay indicate progression in contract negotiations, whereas a curve thatdoes not exhibit any long-term change in location is indicative of astagnating negotiation process. A curve with no oscillation may suggesta stable process, while a high degree of oscillation may suggest aprocess that is unstable or risky.

A time curve with many self-intersections may indicate an ineffectivenegotiation process. Point density refers to the ratio between thenumber of time points along a curve and the curve's length. High densityindicates a series of small changes, while low density indicates fewmajor changes. Variations in density may indicate either a change in thespeed of the negotiation process. Regular curves have predictablecharacteristics, e.g., an oscillation of fixed periodicity andamplitude, or consistent changes in point density, and thus suggestlawful processes. Irregular curves are unpredictable and suggestchaotic, risky negotiation processes and/or resulting risky contractdocument versions.

In an embodiment, the geometric analysis generating instructions 112 mayassociate a geometric shape with a contract set risk value. Theadministrator device 120 may specify geometric shapes and associatedrisk values. Geometric shapes and associated risk values may also bespecified by default values in the geometric analysis generatinginstructions 112. For example, the administrator device 120 may specifythat a straight-line shape is associated with a low risk value while adivergent shape is associated with a high-risk value.

For example, the geometric analysis generating instructions 112 maygeometrically analyze the time curve graph of FIG. 4 to identify thatContract 1 resembles an oscillating shape and then determine thatContract 1 is unstable or risky based on the identified oscillatingshape being associated with a lack of progress is contract negotiationsand the associated high-risk value. The geometric analysis generatinginstructions 112 may identify that Contract 2 resembles a divergentshape with many self-intersections and then determine that Contract 2 isunstable or risky due to the divergent shape being associated with anineffective negotiation process and the associated high-risk value. Thegeometric analysis generating instructions 112 may identify thatContract 3 resembles a straight-line shape and then determine thatContract 3 is stable and not at risk due to the straight-line shapebeing associated with progression in contract negotiations and theassociated low risk value.

In step 510, it is determined whether the contract set is at risk byperforming a geometric analysis of the time curve graph to identifygeometric shapes that indicate a lack of convergence over a thresholdamount of time. For example, the geometric analysis generatinginstructions 112 may perform a geometric analysis of the time curvegraph that is received as input from the time curve graph generatinginstructions and determine whether the time curves of the time curvegraph identify as certain geometric shapes. The administrator device 120may specify geometric shapes that indicate a lack of convergence and thegeometric generating instructions 112 may use the specified geometricshapes as input values to identify such geometric shapes in the timecurve graph. The geometric shapes that indicate a lack of convergencemay also be specified by default values in the geometric analysisgenerating instructions. The threshold amount of time value may bespecified by a default value in the geometric analysis generatinginstructions 112 or may be input by the administrator device 120 andreceived by the geometric analysis generating instructions 112.

In step 512, in response to determining that the contract set is atrisk, a notification indicating that the contract set is at risk isgenerated and displayed. For example, the server 102 generates alerts ornotifications via the electronic notification generating instructions110 and sends the alerts or notifications over the network 116 to theadministrator device 120. In an embodiment, the alerts or notificationsmay prompt the buyer entities via the buyer computers 122, 124 to enteradditional information.

In an embodiment, in response to determining that the contract set isnot at risk, a notification indicating that the contract set is not atrisk is generated and displayed.

In an embodiment, in response to identifying geometric shapes from thetime curve graph that indicate that the contract set is at risk, anotification indicating that the contract set is at risk is generatedand displayed. In an embodiment, in response to identifying geometricshapes from the time curve graph that indicate a lack of convergenceover a threshold amount of time, a notification indicating that thecontract set is at risk is generated and displayed.

In another embodiment, a first contract set is stored, the firstcontract set comprising two or more contract documents, the two or morecontract documents comprising a template document and one or morecontract document versions based on the template document. A secondcontract set is stored, the second contract set comprising two or morecontract documents, the two or more contract documents comprising thetemplate document and one or more contract document versions based onthe template document. Digital contract metadata is stored, the digitalcontract metadata including data identifying one or more data fields ineach contract document of the first and second contract sets, dataspecifying the data type of the one or more data fields in each contractdocument of the first and second contract sets, and weights assigned toeach data type. A time curve graph is generated and displayed based onthe contract set and contract metadata, the time curve graph graphicallyindicating similarities between contract documents in the first contractset, similarities between contract documents in the second contract set,and a temporal ordering of contract documents in each contract set ofthe first and second contract sets. It is determined whether thetemplate document of the contract set needs to be modified by performinga geometric analysis of the time curve graph to identify a geometrictrend between the first and second contract sets that indicate that thetemplate document should be modified. In response to identifying adirectional trend between the first and second contract sets thatindicate that the template document should be modified, a notificationindicating that the template document should be modified is generatedand displayed at a computer associated with the contract administrator.

In an embodiment, identifying a geometric trend comprises identifyingthat two or more time curves of the time curve graph, wherein each timecurve represents a different contract set, are within a threshold degreeof similarity. For example, if the geometric analysis generatinginstructions 112 identify that an identified geometric shape of a timecurve corresponding to the first contract set on the time curve graph iswithin a threshold degree of similarity to an identified geometric shapeof a time curve corresponding to the second contract set on the timecurve graph, it is determined that the template document needs to bemodified. That is, if the geometric shapes corresponding to eachcontract set on the time curve graph are similar to each other, it maybe indicative that the template document is ineffective, and thus, needsto be modified. Calculating similarity between geometric shapes on atime curve graph may be calculated by any available method known tothose having ordinary skill in the art.

4.0 Hardware Overview

According to one embodiment, the techniques described herein areimplemented by one or more special-purpose computing devices. Thespecial-purpose computing devices may be hard-wired to perform thetechniques, or may include digital electronic devices such as one ormore application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs) that are persistently programmed toperform the techniques, or may include one or more general purposehardware processors programmed to perform the techniques pursuant toprogram instructions in firmware, memory, other storage, or acombination. Such special-purpose computing devices may also combinecustom hard-wired logic, ASICs, or FPGAs with custom programming toaccomplish the techniques. The special-purpose computing devices may bedesktop computer systems, portable computer systems, handheld devices,networking devices or any other device that incorporates hard-wiredand/or program logic to implement the techniques.

For example, FIG. 7 is a block diagram that illustrates a computersystem 700 upon which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented.Computer system 700 includes a bus 702 or other communication mechanismfor communicating information, and a hardware processor 704 coupled withbus 702 for processing information. Hardware processor 704 may be, forexample, a general-purpose microprocessor.

Computer system 700 also includes a main memory 706, such as arandom-access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled tobus 702 for storing information and instructions to be executed byprocessor 704. Main memory 706 also may be used for storing temporaryvariables or other intermediate information during execution ofinstructions to be executed by processor 704. Such instructions, whenstored in non-transitory storage media accessible to processor 704,render computer system 700 into a special-purpose machine that iscustomized to perform the operations specified in the instructions.

Computer system 700 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 708 orother static storage device coupled to bus 702 for storing staticinformation and instructions for processor 704. A storage device 710,such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or solid-state drive is providedand coupled to bus 702 for storing information and instructions.

Computer system 700 may be coupled via bus 702 to a display 712, such asa cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user.An input device 714, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupledto bus 702 for communicating information and command selections toprocessor 704. Another type of user input device is cursor control 716,such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicatingdirection information and command selections to processor 704 and forcontrolling cursor movement on display 712. This input device typicallyhas two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and asecond axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in aplane.

Computer system 700 may implement the techniques described herein usingcustomized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and/orprogram logic which in combination with the computer system causes orprograms computer system 700 to be a special-purpose machine. Accordingto one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed by computersystem 700 in response to processor 704 executing one or more sequencesof one or more instructions contained in main memory 706. Suchinstructions may be read into main memory 706 from another storagemedium, such as storage device 710. Execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in main memory 706 causes processor 704 toperform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments,hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination withsoftware instructions.

The term “storage media” as used herein refers to any non-transitorymedia that store data and/or instructions that cause a machine tooperate in a specific fashion. Such storage media may comprisenon-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes,for example, optical disks, magnetic disks, or solid-state drives, suchas storage device 710. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such asmain memory 706. Common forms of storage media include, for example, afloppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, solid-state drive, magnetictape, or any other magnetic data storage medium, a CD-ROM, any otheroptical data storage medium, any physical medium with patterns of holes,a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip orcartridge.

Storage media is distinct from but may be used in conjunction withtransmission media. Transmission media participates in transferringinformation between storage media. For example, transmission mediaincludes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including thewires that comprise bus 702. Transmission media can also take the formof acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-waveand infra-red data communications.

Various forms of media may be involved in carrying one or more sequencesof one or more instructions to processor 704 for execution. For example,the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk orsolid-state drive of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over atelephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 700 canreceive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitterto convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector canreceive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriatecircuitry can place the data on bus 702. Bus 702 carries the data tomain memory 706, from which processor 704 retrieves and executes theinstructions. The instructions received by main memory 706 mayoptionally be stored on storage device 710 either before or afterexecution by processor 704.

Computer system 700 also includes a communication interface 718 coupledto bus 702. Communication interface 718 provides a two-way datacommunication coupling to a network link 720 that is connected to alocal network 722. For example, communication interface 718 may be anintegrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellitemodem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to acorresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communicationinterface 718 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a datacommunication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also beimplemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 718sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals thatcarry digital data streams representing various types of information.

Network link 720 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, network link 720 mayprovide a connection through local network 722 to a host computer 724 orto data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 726.ISP 726 in turn provides data communication services through theworld-wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to asthe “Internet” 728. Local network 722 and Internet 728 both useelectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital datastreams. The signals through the various networks and the signals onnetwork link 720 and through communication interface 718, which carrythe digital data to and from computer system 700, are example forms oftransmission media.

Computer system 700 can send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the network(s), network link 720 and communicationinterface 718. In the Internet example, a server 730 might transmit arequested code for an application program through Internet 728, ISP 726,local network 722 and communication interface 718.

The received code may be executed by processor 704 as it is received,and/or stored in storage device 710, or other non-volatile storage forlater execution.

In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have beendescribed with reference to numerous specific details that may vary fromimplementation to implementation. The specification and drawings are,accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictivesense. The sole and exclusive indicator of the scope of the invention,and what is intended by the applicants to be the scope of the invention,is the literal and equivalent scope of the set of claims that issue fromthis application, in the specific form in which such claims issue,including any subsequent correction.

5.0 Other Aspects of Disclosure

Although some of the figures described in the foregoing specificationinclude flow diagrams with steps that are shown in an order, the stepsmay be performed in any order, and are not limited to the order shown inthose flowcharts. Additionally, some steps may be optional, may beperformed multiple times, and/or may be performed by differentcomponents. All steps, operations and functions of a flow diagram thatare described herein are intended to indicate operations that areperformed using programming in a special-purpose computer orgeneral-purpose computer, in various embodiments. In other words, eachflow diagram in this disclosure, in combination with the related textherein, is a guide, plan or specification of all or part of an algorithmfor programming a computer to execute the functions that are described.The level of skill in the field associated with this disclosure is knownto be high, and therefore the flow diagrams and related text in thisdisclosure have been prepared to convey information at a level ofsufficiency and detail that is normally expected in the field whenskilled persons communicate among themselves with respect to programs,algorithms and their implementation.

In the foregoing specification, the example embodiment(s) of the presentinvention have been described with reference to numerous specificdetails. However, the details may vary from implementation toimplementation according to the requirements of the particular implementat hand. The example embodiment(s) are, accordingly, to be regarded inan illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: using afirst computing device: accessing digital data representing a firstcontract set of two or more contract documents and digital contractmetadata comprising data identifying one or more data fields in eachcontract document, data specifying a data type of the one or more datafields in each contract document, and weights assigned to each datatype; weighting differences between data field values of the one or moredata fields based on weights assigned to each data type of the one ormore data fields; using the weighted differences to calculate one ormore distance scores for the one or more data fields; using the one ormore distance scores and a temporal ordering of the contract documentsto generate and cause displaying, at a second computing device, a firsttime curve graph, the first time curve graph comprising a geometricshape that graphically comprises one or more time curves of the contractdocuments and a spatial proximity between the contact documents, ameasure of each time curve of the one or more time curves beingcalculated to indicate an amount of time between a creation of twocontract documents of the two or more contract documents, the spatialproximity being calculated to indicate a metric of similarity betweenthe contract documents; in response to determining that the geometricshape of the first time curve graph indicates a lack of convergence ofthe first contract set over a threshold amount of time, generating andcausing displaying, at the second computing device, a notificationindicating that the first contract set is at risk.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, the digital contract metadata further comprising temporal dataindicating the temporal ordering of the contract documents in the firstcontract set.
 3. The method of claim 1, the digital contract metadatafurther comprising a contract clause library and data identifying afrequency of occurrence of each data type in each contract document ofthe first contract set.
 4. The method of claim 1, the first time curvegraph comprising a three-dimensional graph, a two-dimensional graph, aone-dimensional graph, or a zero-dimensional graph.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising using the weighted differences to calculatethe one or more distance scores by identifying differences between twocontract documents of the first contract set using natural languageprocessing for each distance score of the one or more distance scores.6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to determiningthat the geometric shape of the first time curve graph indicates aconvergence of the first contract set over the threshold amount of time,generating and causing displaying, at the second computing device, anotification indicating that the first contract set is not at risk. 7.The method of claim 1, the two or more contract documents comprising atemplate document and one or more contract document versions based onthe template document.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:accessing digital data representing a second contract set of two or morecontract documents and digital contract metadata associated with thesecond contract set comprising data identifying one or more data fieldsin each contract document of the second contract set, data specifying adata type of the one or more data fields in each contract document ofthe second contract set, and weights assigned to each data type;weighting differences between data field values of the one or more datafields based on weights assigned to each data type of the one or moredata fields; using the weighted differences to calculate one or moredistance scores for the one or more data fields; using the one or moredistance scores to generate and cause displaying, at the secondcomputing device, a second time curve graph, the second time curve graphgraphically indicating similarities between contract documents in thefirst contract set, similarities between contract documents in thesecond contract set, the temporal ordering of the contract documents inthe first contract set, and a temporal ordering of the contractdocuments in the second contract set; determining whether the templatedocument needs to be modified by performing a geometric analysis of thesecond time curve graph to identify a geometric trend between the firstand second contract sets that indicates that the template documentshould be modified; in response to identifying a directional trendbetween the first and second contract sets that indicates that thetemplate document should be modified, generating and causing displaying,at the second computing device, a notification indicating that thetemplate document should be modified.
 9. The method of claim 8, thedigital contract metadata associated with the second contract setfurther comprising temporal data indicating the temporal ordering of thecontract documents in the second contract set.
 10. The method of claim8, the digital contract metadata associated with the second contract setfurther comprising a contract clause library and data identifying afrequency of occurrence of each data type in each contract document ofthe second contract set.
 11. The method of claim 8, the second timecurve graph comprising a three-dimensional graph.
 12. A data processingsystem comprising: one or more hardware processors; a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon, theinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause: usinga first computing device: accessing digital data representing a firstcontract set of two or more contract documents and digital contractmetadata comprising data identifying one or more data fields in eachcontract document, data specifying a data type of the one or more datafields in each contract document, and weights assigned to each datatype; weighting differences between data field values of the one or moredata fields based on weights assigned to each data type of the one ormore data fields; using the weighted differences to calculate one ormore distance scores for the one or more data fields; using the one ormore distance scores and a temporal ordering of the contract documentsto generate and cause displaying, at a second computing device, a firsttime curve graph, the first time curve graph comprising a geometricshape that graphically comprises one or more time curves of the contractdocuments and a spatial proximity between the contact documents, ameasure of each time curve of the one or more time curves beingcalculated to indicate an amount of time between a creation of twocontract documents of the two or more contract documents, the spatialproximity being calculated to indicate a metric of similarity betweenthe contract documents; in response to determining that the geometricshape of the first time curve graph indicates a lack of convergence ofthe first contract set over a threshold amount of time, generating andcausing displaying, at the second computing device, a notificationindicating that the first contract set is at risk.
 13. The system ofclaim 12, the digital contract metadata further comprising temporal dataindicating the temporal ordering of the contract documents in the firstcontract set.
 14. The system of claim 12, the digital contract metadatafurther comprising a contract clause library and data identifying afrequency of occurrence of each data type in each contract document ofthe first contract set.
 15. The system of claim 12, the first time curvegraph comprising a three-dimensional graph, a two-dimensional graph, aone-dimensional graph, or a zero-dimensional graph.
 16. The system ofclaim 12, further comprising using the weighted differences to calculatethe one or more distance scores by identifying differences between twocontract documents of the first contract set using natural languageprocessing for each distance score of the one or more distance scores.17. The system of claim 12, further comprising instructions executed bythe system which, when executed, cause: in response to determining thatthe geometric shape of the first time curve graph indicates aconvergence of the first contract set over the threshold amount of time,generating and causing displaying, at the second computing device, anotification indicating that the first contract set is not at risk. 18.The system of claim 12, the two or more contract documents comprising atemplate document and one or more contract document versions based onthe template document.
 19. The system of claim 18, further comprisinginstructions executed by the system which, when executed, cause:accessing digital data representing a second contract set of two or morecontract documents and digital contract metadata associated with thesecond contract set comprising data identifying one or more data fieldsin each contract document of the second contract set, data specifying adata type of the one or more data fields in each contract document ofthe second contract set, and weights assigned to each data type;weighting differences between data field values of the one or more datafields based on weights assigned to each data type of the one or moredata fields; using the weighted differences to calculate one or moredistance scores for the one or more data fields; using the one or moredistance scores to generate and cause displaying, at the secondcomputing device, a second time curve graph, the second time curve graphgraphically indicating similarities between contract documents in thefirst contract set, similarities between contract documents in thesecond contract set, the temporal ordering of the contract documents inthe first contract set, and a temporal ordering of the contractdocuments in the second contract set; determining whether the templatedocument needs to be modified by performing a geometric analysis of thesecond time curve graph to identify a geometric trend between the firstand second contract sets that indicate that the template document shouldbe modified; in response to identifying a directional trend between thefirst and second contract sets that indicate that the template documentshould be modified, generating and causing displaying, at the secondcomputing device, a notification indicating that the template documentshould be modified.
 20. One or more computer-readable non-transitorystorage media embodying software that is operable when executed to: usea first computing device: accessing digital data representing a firstcontract set of two or more contract documents and digital contractmetadata comprising data identifying one or more data fields in eachcontract document, data specifying a data type of the one or more datafields in each contract document, and weights assigned to each datatype; weighting differences between data field values of the one or moredata fields based on weights assigned to each data type of the one ormore data fields; using the weighted differences to calculate one ormore distance scores for the one or more data fields; using the one ormore distance scores and a temporal ordering of the contract documentsto generate and cause displaying, at a second computing device, a firsttime curve graph, the first time curve graph comprising a geometricshape that graphically comprises one or more time curves of the contractdocuments and a spatial proximity between the contact documents, ameasure of each time curve of the one or more time curves beingcalculated to indicate an amount of time between a creation of twocontract documents of the two or more contract documents, the spatialproximity being calculated to indicate a metric of similarity betweenthe contract documents; in response to determining that the geometricshape of the first time curve graph indicates a lack of convergence ofthe first contract set over a threshold amount of time, generate andcause displaying, at the second computing device, a notificationindicating that the first contract set is at risk.